Timelord Posted March 16, 2022 Report Share Posted March 16, 2022 Hope everyone is keeping well? Haven’t posted for a while,,but have been lurking! I recently serviced an old watch sitting in one of the wardrobes having forgotten all about it! I have been wearing it for almost a month now and cannot believe how incredibly accurate it has been. On some days it has only picked up a couple of minutes and then slowly goes back to original time I set it. I am happy with that for a 60 plus year old watch! i was pleasantly surprised to discover that some of those older Tudor snowflakes use this exact eta 2452! I saw that on eBay they are so many of these movements and also well priced,!! Some of these unknown brand watches range from as little as £70 to £2000. I thought that I would raise this up with those wanting to further their projects with the parts problem issue. I find these older movements much better than the latest 28xx series as they also have a stud screw to replace hair spring and also have a better keyless works assemnly without that horrible cover plate spring! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automatico Posted March 17, 2022 Report Share Posted March 17, 2022 Funny you should mention the ETA 2452, I've been going through ETA 245x watchjunk putting a couple together for projects. Hamilton used them in Thin-O-Matics in place of the Buren micro-rotor movement sometimes. I call the ETA models Fat-O-Matics. Ham ETA Fat-O-Matic date model etc... Needed a 40 tooth hour wheel, 2879 parts were a no go (2452 on lower left). Guy brought a BTM dial in (not the dial in the pic) and wanted a running watch made out of it. Just the dial. No kiddin'. I guess it beats only the sweep second hand. The BTM in the pic is a mock-up to make a movement holder. Adjusted 24xx were used in a few Ball Trainmasters. Leftovers... Spade style BTM ETA RR hands are extremely hard to find, I am using H/M hands from a small pocket watch that had an ISA 1198 quartz movement. The ISA hands are pretty close to ETA 245x sizes. Example of spade H/M hands... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timelord Posted March 18, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 21 hours ago, automatico said: Funny you should mention the ETA 2452, I've been going through ETA 245x watchjunk putting a couple together for projects. Hamilton used them in Thin-O-Matics in place of the Buren micro-rotor movement sometimes. I was in two minds with what to do with mine as it had been sitting forgotten away from mind and sight! I was almost going to scrap it ,but the stainless steel case caught my attention that it had to be of better quality than the typical chrome plated ones, so I looked at it further ! I pulled it apart for curiosity to compare it with the latest eta , but was pleasantly surprised at its construction! I liked the way the hair spring comes off from stud by unscrewing the fine screw which is a far outcry from the current eta with the pressed in stud in the fork which is a throwaway if the spring gets damaged! The Incabloc was nice too! It was quite a straightforward experience! I cleaned it by hand washing each part first in detergent and distilled water with a kids toothbrush! I then rinsed them in distilled water and dried them with cotton wool! Left parts in a jar of naphtha for a few days, stirring the jar for a few moments a day! When I assembled parts I only had 9010 and D5 just to get it running and I surprised myself that it is one of the best timekeepers I have! Maybe not using the right oils in the Keyless works and on pallet stone will catch up with me soon, but until it lasts I am quite happy 😃 In conclusion it is a great project movement for any other project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automatico Posted March 19, 2022 Report Share Posted March 19, 2022 "In conclusion it is a great project movement for any other project!" Agree! I put one in a bubbleback replica years ago and it ran fine for many years. It still runs but it's past due for c/o. I bought the watch on Yahoo! auctions in the late 1990s with a rusty ETA of some sort in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.